In a June 17 blog entry on the Milan-based Il Giornale newspaper’s web site, Italian blogger Andrea Tornielli said Ouellet would replace Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who at 76 has reached retirement age.

Tornielli wrote, “Unless there is an unlikely — but still possible — last-minute surprise, the choice has fallen on the Pope’s Canadian cardinal, Marc Ouellet.”

Lemieux-Lefebvre said although it’s normal for a bishop to resign at that age, it isn’t forced and Tornielli’s news is premature.

“Of course, it’s kind of normal that some people get rumours out knowing that at 75, usually at the discretion of the bishop, that he will resign because of age. But you know it’s not a strict rule, there are many variables involved,” Lemieux-Lefebvre said.

Ouellet had some experience at the Vatican prior to his assuming his leadership role in Quebec, and maintains an active role at the Vatican to this day. In March of 2001 he was appointed Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, only to be appointed archbishop of Quebec a year later. He took possession of his See in January 2003.

In addition, Ouellet has been consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for the Clergy. He is a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Congregation for the Clergy.

Ouellet is also a member of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the Pontifical Academy of Theology. And he is a member of the Council of Cardinals for the study of the organizational and economic problems of the Holy See, the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Post-synodal Council.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as General Relator of the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2008.